My first appointment on Thursday is a lady, mid 40’s, divorced, self employed, one child in college and her long term goal is a committed relationship and possibly marriage. She has had two significant relationships since she has been divorced and almost married one of them. Of course, now she is glad she did not marry him. She said “I had this gut feeling that there was something not right and, although I have never done a background check on someone, it was easy enough to go online and discover information that was a show stopper for me.” He had told her he was divorced once but he had actually been divorced three times. He tried to rationalize his reason for lying to her but her trust in him was gone. She said “If he could lie about something so serious it made me wonder what else he might have lied about, or would lie about in the future.” She said “I thought we had a great relationship and I was truly in love with him but I had to end it.” She started dating again after taking a break for almost a year and she has met a few men through an online service but she finds that process to be too time consuming and ineffective. She said “I like that you personally meet with everyone, verify a driver’s license and serve as a filter. I also like that you are involved as a third party and we both communicate with you.” She recently met someone and he was laughing as he approached her. He thought she would think it was funny that the picture she saw of him was twenty years younger and thirty pounds lighter than he is today. She did not think it was funny. She said “I am active and fit and want someone who can ski, hike, bike. I said all those things in my profile and, in addition to the dated picture, he did none of those activities. It was a total waste of my time to meet him.” I have some terrific matches for her and I matched her a half hour after she walked out my door.
My second appointment is a man, early 60’s, widowed, educated, grown children, and his long term goal is marriage. His wife died suddenly and until her death she appeared to be the picture of health. She was fit and active, took care of herself and did all the right things. She left for work one morning and died before she got there. I have heard a lot of stories in my 23 years of matchmaking but this one is especially sad. They were both about to retire and enjoy the fruits of their labor, having been married for almost 30 years. They had planned carefully and were looking forward to spending more time with their kids and grandkids, traveling, golf, and having the freedom to enjoy life without the responsibility of a job. He said “I loved her so much and I thought our best years
were yet to come.” He has not dated but it has been two years and he feels like the time is right to start. He said “My daughter is encouraging me to date and she emailed me your website.” He said “I have no idea how to start and I think you can help me. I feel like a fish out of water but I also have begun to feel interested and excited about meeting someone new.” When I asked him what was important to him physically as for as a lady is concerned he said “I have read many of your daily diaries and you often mention that weight is an issue for men, but it is not an issue for me.” He is about 25 pounds overweight and he is attracted to ladies who “have a little meat on their bones.” As much as he loved his wife she was always pushing him to exercise and lose weight. He wants someone who likes him just the way he is and he is attracted to “voluptuous ladies.” Roseanne Barr would be just fine. No one has ever mentioned her as an example of the type of woman they are attracted to in all my 23 years of matchmaking which only proves there is someone for everyone. Before he left he gave me his daughter’s phone number and asked me to call her and tell her that he was now a new client. She was so excited and shared some input on her Dad that will definitely help me when I match him. She said “He is such a wonderful man and I hope you will find him a wonderful lady.” It made my day.
Friday I booked no appointments so I could get some matching done and catch up. I made nine matches on Friday which means 18 people will meet someone new in the next few days.
My first appointment on Saturday is a “be back”, a lady I interviewed a month ago decided now was the right time to join Perfectly Matched. She had interviewed with a couple of other services but they were both calling her almost daily and lowering their prices each time they called. She said “ I told you I needed to think about it for a couple of weeks and you called two weeks to the day to see if I had made a decision or if I had any questions. I asked you if the price was negotiable and you said it was not and here I am.” My service is less expensive than the others, I am local with a 20 year track record and she trusts me. That was all nice to hear and she is easy to match, lots of options.
My second appointment on Saturday is a man, late 30’s, ABS, tall, good looking and his long term goal is marriage and children. As soon as he walked in he wanted to know how much this was going to cost him. I said “I prefer to get your scores and your background information to know how many matches I have for you because my service has no time frame. It is based on how many matches you purchase and this next hour cost you nothing.” He said “I don’t want to waste your time. I would like to know what this cost.” I said “I have already scheduled an hour of my time to meet with you and even if you don’t get involved you will walk out of here knowing more about yourself and the type of lady you will be most compatible with and it won’t cost you a penny.” He said “You’re tough!” I said “No, I think this will have more of a value to you if you do it my way and let me see how many matches I have for you.” At the end of the interview, when he knew the cost, he said he needed to think about it. I said “OK, how long do you need to think about it.” He said “A week or two.” I said “And what is going to change in the week or two you take to think about it?” He is late 30’s, wants to be married and have kids and while I don’t hard sell I thought that was a reasonable question. He said “I am pretty sure I will do this but not today.” I said “OK, please let me know either way once you decide.”
He left and called me an hour later to come back and join.
My third appointment on Saturday is a lady, mid 30’s, ABS, her long term goal is marriage and children. She is as sweet as she can be and very down to earth. She and her brother live together and she wanted to know if that would be a problem in matching her. I said “Does it work for both of you?” She said “Yes, we get along great and he is a good guy.” I said “There all kinds of living arrangements today and as long as it works for both of you I don’t see why anyone should have a problem with it.” Between the two of them they have four dogs, BIG dogs, and three cats. That is more likely to be an issue than her living with her brother. She was impressed with the men I spoke with her about and she is going to think about it and get back to me next week. In the meantime I am going to call the potential matches I have for her and see how they feel about meeting someone with four BIG dogs and three cats.
To be continued…………………………….